Chapter 11
While mentally planning for her future escape, Anne decided that a momentary one was needed.
“We will only be out for a brief respite of fresh air,” she insisted, amidst the stifling chaos of servants bustling to and fro to prepare the house for her wedding breakfast. She directed Richard to take her out through the garden doors before her mother could protest. Besides, she knew that her opinion was neither needed nor wanted for anything.
The breeze felt refreshing on her face as he pushed her chair over a small incline.
“Well, my dear,” Richard’s deep melodic voice hummed over the gentle rattle of the wheels on the path, “where would you like to venture? I could carry you over to the bluebell meadow,” he suggested.
“But then your back might tire, and I need you well-rested,” she said. “The folly will be far enough, I think, to afford us some privacy.”
He obliged. The folly was far enough from the house to be away from prying eyes, unless someone intended to spy on them.
Once inside, Richard slid down onto the stone floor of the folly, pulling Anne onto his lap.
The parapet obscured them both from view, causing them to disappear from the outside world.
“It is happening, Richard,” Anne told him eagerly. “Everything is coming into place. Jenkinson is headed to Westerham now to secure the final pieces. Have you arranged our passage?”
He nodded. “Our fare is purchased, and a coach will be waiting tonight to collect us. I have done all that needs to be done. We need only play our parts until the last moment, and then our life awaits us.”
“Oh, my love, how happy this makes me!” Throwing her arms around him, Anne pressed her lips tightly to Richard’s. The sunlight streaming through the breaks in the colonnades reminded Anne of a new day dawning, her future with the one she was meant to be with.
Sinking his hands into her thick bronze hair, Richard pulled a curl loose from her chignon and twirled it in his fingers as he deepened their kiss, then slid his other arm around her waist. Anne sighed with pleasure as he began planting kisses along her neck.
She responded in kind by running her finger along his jaw.
“It is a good thing that I do not have to wait much longer before making you mine,” she murmured.
“Darling Anne, you stole the very words from my mouth,” he said, before capturing her lips once more.
S
Anne and Richard could not hear Lady Catheirne’s shrieks of horror the next morning when she discovered them missing, although Jenkinson described them with relish later on.
The pair were already far from Rosings by that hour, boarding a schooner that would carry them from Margate to Berrick-on-Tweed, where they would marry as soon as they crossed the border into Scotland.
Their pockets were surprisingly flush, ready to begin their new lives wherever it suited them.
Anne had initially been alarmed when she learned of the banknotes that Jenkinson had taken, fearing that a servant might be blamed for the theft and dismissed.
To rectify the situation, Anne left another letter for Lady Catherine in the safe so that when the discovery was made, it would be clear it was she who had taken them.
With ease, as though she were a feather, Richard carried Anne up the gangplank, while a pair of sailors lifted her bath chair onto the deck for him to set her on.
Richard pushed her over to the railing so she could look out as they launched.
“Do you suppose Mother will ever forgive me for running off like this?” Anne asked as the shoreline began to shrink away from them.
Richard twisted his lip and nodded. “Oh, I think so. You are her only daughter, after all. A mother’s love must always overcome her anger, I think.
And you are the heiress of Rosings. She will soon cease to think of you as the future mistress of Pemberley and desire to shape you into her successor.
She cannot banish you from a home that is rightfully yours, after all. ”
“This is true,” Anne conceded. “Besides, if I were not there, she would have no one to lord her influence over.”
Richard shrugged. “There is always Toadface.”
Anne laughed heartily. “Yes, now that Westerham has been given to another, I suppose he will continue to grovel in the hopes of being given one of the lesser livings in her gift.
She has about two or three more, I believe, though far less fine than the parsonage next to St. Mary the Virgin.
Poor Mr. Collins will be so livid to see another preaching from that pulpit with the scene of the Last Supper exalting it.
Do you know who will take Mr. Garbutt's place? Cousin Darcy would not say.”
“Mr. Wickham is to have the living, upon completion of his studies at Cambridge.”
“Mr. Wickham!” Anne exclaimed. “But I thought the Darcys hated him. He fell out of favor somehow or other, I understood. You dislike him as well, do you not?”
“Most assuredly! But it seems he has more honor in him that I gave him credit for and wishes to make right his past transgressions. I cannot say I think it wise to have him installed as a minister of the Lord; I would have kept him in the army or chosen the law for him myself. But circumstances have surrounded us such that this is the situation that he shall have, and if it provides him with the means to a respectable occupation and a life for himself and his wife and child—yes, you heard that correctly, my dear—then I shall accept the matter and wish for the best,” Richard finished.
Anne’s brow furrowed. “So then his wife is to be–”
“Miss Lydia Bennet,” Richard supplied. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s youngest sister.”
Anne puzzled out the implications of Richard’s meaning, understanding coming to her mind as to why Lady Catherine had been able to manipulate Darcy into signing the marriage articles.
She must have threatened Darcy with exposure of Elizabeth’s sister if he did not comply, and in return, granted the living to Mr. Wickham so that he could afford to marry Miss Lydia and save the Bennet family’s reputation.
Anne hoped that the articles were written such that her elopement with Richard did not ruin the arrangement Darcy had made for them, regardless of the dissolution between herself and Darcy, but knowing him, he would have it well in hand.
Richard drew closer to Anne, wrapping his arms around her from behind and nuzzling her hair.
“How long until we reach Berrick-on-Tweed?” Anne asked him.
“If the winds cooperate, perhaps a day or so,” he answered. He buried his face further into her luscious curls, his deep voice sending a shiver down her spine.
To distract herself, she said brightly, “We ought to stay a while, after we are married. With what we have, we could truly see the country, and I have never been to Scotland. There must be many beautiful sights. What should we do first, apart from finding a chaplain to marry us? Or would you prefer to be married over the anvil?”
“Whichever method is the speediest shall suit me best. As to your other question, I can think of a few things I should like to do,” he murmured. “And all of them involve resting my eyes on the most beautiful sight of all–you.”
She blushed. “Oh, you!”
He leaned over and kissed her, turning her complexion an even deeper shade. Releasing her from his embrace, he squeezed her hand.
“I hope you won’t come to regret your choice to run away with me. After all, I am but a poor soldier. I can offer you nothing but my heart.”
“That is all I ever asked of you. It is the only fortune I seek.” She smiled. “Besides, you recall that this was my idea from the start. Did I not tell you that the best way to avoid my marriage to Darcy was for us to simply elope?”
Richard laughed. “You did, indeed! In the future, I shall remember to always listen to my wife, for she has the very best advice. Every risk we took was worth it, to come to this moment. For all my courage on the battlefield, I found that I was lacking when it came to matters of the heart. It was you who taught me to put everything on the line for the sake of love, for that is the real prize worth conquering. I know for myself, I will never regret the choices we made, no matter the cost.”
“Nor, I, to be sure. I count it all as gain, to be with you, and to be free,” Anne said, her voice as light and free as the wind which filled their ship’s sails.
With a look of tenderness, Richard cradled her face, stroking her cheek with the bottom of his thumb. “We will always be free, and be happy, so long as we have each other.” Bringing his lips down to hers, he captured them in a deep kiss that expressed all the fullness of his devotion.